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Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years

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31–40 of 102 posts

Re: Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years

#32

I loved this film. Its quirky and scattered in all of the right ways. I really admire Gilliam's persistence over the years -- and I'm thankful that he was willing to allow not one, but two documentaries to be filmed about the struggle to be made. Critics have been a little lukewarm to the film, but everybody I know who has seen it has loved it. It has definitely lived up to the hype. Its a shame I wasn't able to catc…

The standard critics have it out for Terry Gilliam for a bunch of reasons not related to the quality if his work.

May you elaborate?

Re: Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years

#33
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The standard critics have it out for Terry Gilliam for a bunch of reasons not related to the quality if his work.

May you elaborate?

There was a lot of bad blood over the US studio's reedit of Brazil to give it a happy ending (which was atrocious). Following that Baron Munchausen was a flop (and while I like it, def not his best work to be fair). After that he was sort of written off from the establishment as it were (including the critics who know to pay the piper). But while that would have killed off the careers of most directors, Terry Gilliam has this ineffable quality about him that's allowed him to keep getting independent funding, keep getting very good actors, and keep making great movies. It's one thing if your independent and the system hasn't noticed you yet, but the system turned it's back on him and somehow he's still out there killing it. The system out of spite acts out against him wherever it can.

You can see this most clearly in the Metacritic for Tideland which is pretty positive as far as user submitted reviews go, but is one of the worst movies ever if you were to go off the critics reviews.

Re: Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years

#34
post #27

Gilliam's "Brazil" is still my favorite film of all time. If you haven't seen it, you should. Note that there are multiple versions of this film floating around. Comparing them makes a very interesting study in film editing. The story of the making of "Brazil" is almost as interesting and fraught as Don Quixote. When watching Brazil it's important to keep in mind that it was made in 1985, before 9-11, before the inte…

It's great. It's semi-adaptation of 1984 without directly taking the story it feels very similar in spirit. The soul crushing effects of malicious beurcracy, someone seeing past the facade and going though a lot of pain while trying to escape it. The movie equivalent of calling to cancel Comcast, where the feeling of knowing the experience is going to be so bad it puts you off doing it.

Re: Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years

#35
post #27

Gilliam's "Brazil" is still my favorite film of all time. If you haven't seen it, you should. Note that there are multiple versions of this film floating around. Comparing them makes a very interesting study in film editing. The story of the making of "Brazil" is almost as interesting and fraught as Don Quixote. When watching Brazil it's important to keep in mind that it was made in 1985, before 9-11, before the inte…

It's one of my all-time favourites too. The Criterion Collection edition I believe contains the final directors cut. The ending is superb, it beggars belief that Hollywood tried to butcher it.

Re: Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years

#37
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May you elaborate?

There was a lot of bad blood over the US studio's reedit of Brazil to give it a happy ending (which was atrocious). Following that Baron Munchausen was a flop (and while I like it, def not his best work to be fair). After that he was sort of written off from the establishment as it were (including the critics who know to pay the piper). But while that would have killed off the careers of most directors, Terry Gilliam…

> After [Munchausen] he was sort of written off ... including the critics who know to pay the piper

Do the facts even support this? The Fisher King and 12 Monkeys followed Munchausen and were well reviewed critically. Instead of inventing a cabal of critics out to get Gilliam, let’s just acknowledge that he’s made a number of divisive films. Michael Palin’s comments to Gilliam about Tideland encapsulate this:

I don't like the movie, I'm afraid I have to say, to be honest. But it's now the next day and there are images that I still cannot shake, that I can't get rid off. Either this is the best movie you've made, or your worst!

Re: Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years

#38
post #35
post #27

Gilliam's "Brazil" is still my favorite film of all time. If you haven't seen it, you should. Note that there are multiple versions of this film floating around. Comparing them makes a very interesting study in film editing. The story of the making of "Brazil" is almost as interesting and fraught as Don Quixote. When watching Brazil it's important to keep in mind that it was made in 1985, before 9-11, before the inte…

It's one of my all-time favourites too. The Criterion Collection edition I believe contains the final directors cut. The ending is superb, it beggars belief that Hollywood tried to butcher it.

The Brazil CC is amazing, and also includes the "happy" version the studios forced to exist, so you can compare.

Re: Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years

#39
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a lot of bad blood over the US studio's reedit of Brazil to give it a happy ending (which was atrocious). Following that Baron Munchausen was a flop (and while I like it, def not his best work to be fair). After that he was sort of written off from the establishment as it were (including the critics who know to pay the piper). But while that would have killed off the careers of most directors, Terry Gilliam…

> After [Munchausen] he was sort of written off ... including the critics who know to pay the piper Do the facts even support this? The Fisher King and 12 Monkeys followed Munchausen and were well reviewed critically. Instead of inventing a cabal of critics out to get Gilliam, let’s just acknowledge that he’s made a number of divisive films. Michael Palin’s comments to Gilliam about Tideland encapsulate this: I don't…

The Metacritic scores for the Fisher King and 12 Monkeys is still well under the user reviews.

Re: Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film finally hits the big screen after 25 years

#40
post #9

Finally ? I saw it around a year ago in theater. Is it just out now in the US ? Edit : it seems that it is the case [0]. Well, we were lucky in France I guess On a side note, I really liked this movie ! [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1318517/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_ov_...

Wow that's one limited release. Which is strange for a well known director. It didn't even reach Canada.

great film, saw it here in Edmonton, one of it's three screenings over two days. I'm lucky to have a mother who listens to CBC radio https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/friday-april-5-2019-terry-gilliam...
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